corpus delicti
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And there’s this one, a pioneering one in California criminal law: a crime even without a corpse, the body of evidence — the corpus delicti.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 21, 2026
So, every time you have some sort of a crime that’s committed, you have to have the corpus delicti, which is a Latin term for the body of the crime.
From Slate • Jul. 24, 2019
In Worcester, undeterred by the impossibility of producing a corpus delicti, a district attorney sped a State detective to North Brookfield to investigate the 48-year-old death.
From Time Magazine Archive
Furthermore, there seemed to be no corpus delicti: in whodunits, corpus delicti means a corpse.
From Time Magazine Archive
And now they all gathered in great excitement round the corpus delicti; and there, sure enough, was a long black mole.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 107, September, 1866 by Various
